Dive sites: pelagic

PhilippinesPelagic

Monad Shoal and Kimud Shoal

Visayas: Cebu, Bohol and Negros

12 to 32 mAdvancedFrom January to May

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility 10 to 25 m

Monad Shoal and Kimud Shoal are two shoals off Malapascua where pelagic thresher sharks rise at dawn to be cleaned.

At night, a tight pack of whitetip reef sharks tangle above the rocks, their gray-brown bodies and white fin tips lit by the flash against a black background speckled with particles.

Costa RicaPelagic

Manuelita

Cocos Island

5 to 35 mAdvancedFrom June to November

LiveaboardCurrent: variableVisibility 15 to 30 m

Manuelita is an islet off the north of Cocos Island, near Chatham Bay.

A large white sea fan with red veins spread wide, between a rust-colored sponge riddled with holes on the left and a yellow sea fan, with a diver in black approaching on the right in blue water.

IndonesiaPelagic

Magic Mountain (Misool)

Raja Ampat

6 to 40 mAdvancedFrom October to April

LiveaboardCurrent: variableVisibility 20 to 30 m

Magic Mountain is a seamount south of Misool, in Raja Ampat, rising to 6 m below the surface.

The head and back of a whale shark covered in white dots, seen from the side just below the surface, in bright blue water

TanzaniaPelagic

Mafia Island whale sharks

Mafia Island

0 to 5 mTry diveFrom October to February

BoatCurrent: lightVisibility 5 to 15 m

The Mafia Island whale sharks feed at the surface off Kilindoni from October to March, ten minutes by boat from the beach.

A tight school of silvery barracudas, seen from the side in deep blue water, photographed in the Red Sea at Ras Mohammed

TanzaniaPelagic

Leven Bank

Zanzibar

14 to 40 mAdvancedFrom September to October and from December to February

BoatCurrent: strongVisibility 20 to 30 m

Leven Bank is an isolated seamount in the Pemba Channel, about ten kilometers from Nungwi, with a plateau rising to 14 meters from 200 meters of water.

A reef manta ray seen head-on, its white belly and gill slits visible, passes above the sand in blue-green water, with small fish on the reef at right

ThailandPelagic

Koh Tachai Pinnacle

Andaman Sea: Similan, Surin and Lanta

12 to 40 mAdvancedFrom November to April

LiveaboardCurrent: strongVisibility 10 to 35 m

Koh Tachai Pinnacle is two granite pinnacles between 12 and 40 meters, south of the northernmost island of Similan National Park.

MaldivesPelagic

Kandooma Thila

Malé atolls

12 to 30 mAdvancedFrom November to April

BoatCurrent: strongVisibility 20 to 35 m

Kandooma Thila is a small pinnacle in South Malé Atoll, with its top at 12 or 13 meters and the sand at 35 or 40.

A Moorish idol striped black and yellow, its long white dorsal filament stretched out, in front of a wall covered in red sponges and soft corals at Hin Daeng

ThailandPelagic

Hin Daeng and Hin Muang

Andaman Sea: Similan, Surin and Lanta

8 to 40 mAdvancedFrom December to April

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility 10 to 30 m

Hin Daeng and Hin Muang are two offshore rocks south of Koh Lanta: Hin Daeng, the red rock, is covered in soft corals, and Hin Muang, the purple rock, rises from 65 to 8...